"54 minutes!"

The Rubik's Cube paused strangely before the final, simplest two steps. The red-robed adjudicator stared at the cube, agonizingly anxious for Gu Shen, feeling as if each second stretched into a year. He guessed that the pause was because the young man had consumed a vast amount of mental energy and needed to stop for a moment to rest before making his final sprint.

He must have reached his limit.

What a pity.

Otherwise, this time could have been even faster… Although faster was meaningless at this point. In previous audits, the fastest dream deciphering record for the Azure Cube was 3 hours and 1 minute. Gu Shen's record had shattered that by more than two hours. It seemed unlikely that a faster record would emerge for many years to come.

As the Rubik's Cube in his palm completed its final internal alignment,

the young man slowly opened his eyes.

Dream deciphering, complete!

At this moment, every member of the audit team focused their gaze on Gu Shen's face. They wanted to see the lingering emotions from that dream in the young man's eyes… Everyone who had experienced the Azure Cube retained traces of fear or lingering dread.

But there was nothing in Gu Shen's eyes.

They were clean, black and white, like a clear lake.

His calmness was somewhat disappointing.

"Congratulations, you have completed the dream deciphering of the first sealed item, the Azure Cube," the grand judge said blandly, scrutinizing Gu Shen. "Your result is neither good nor bad. You need to speed up the pace for the second one."

The other members of the audit team remained silent.

Out of guilt, the red-robed adjudicator avoided looking at Gu Shen's eyes. He heard a soft placing sound. The young man had placed the Azure Cube in front of him and said softly, "Is that so? I need to speed up even more… I thought I was already fast."

"You can be faster. This is the audit for 'S-level'," the grand judge said casually. "If you feel that your mental energy cannot support it… you can choose to give up now."

Earlier, they had not seen any fear or dread in the young man's eyes.

But they all sensed that… Gu Shen had consumed a great deal of mental energy completing the dream deciphering of the Azure Cube.

This was the inevitable cost of dream deciphering!

"I choose to continue."

Gu Shen smiled and directly reached out to take the inverted hourglass from the table.

"Very well…" Tang Qingquan said, "When you're ready to enter the dream, turn over the Sands of Time."

Sands of Time…

That was the name of this sealed item…

Gu Shen nodded.

He wasn't in a hurry to start.

Having understood Tang Qingquan's true colors, Gu Shen directly ignored the grand judge's urging.

With the experience of the "Azure Cube," Gu Shen decided to carefully observe this sealed item before inverting the Sands of Time… The Azure Cube was a dream of fragmented space, requiring one to find the rules, while this hourglass clearly corresponded to the rules of time.

The sand in the hourglass was snow-white, piled up like a small mountain. He gently shook it, and the grains of sand flowed normally.

After spending about a minute, Gu Shen shook it left and right several times, carefully examining it all around… He couldn't see any anomalies on the outside.

After ensuring that he hadn't missed anything,

he chose to slowly invert the hourglass.

"Buzz."

As expected, at the moment he inverted the hourglass, his mental energy began to drain uncontrollably, as if being swept into quicksand along with countless grains of sand…

Because his mental energy was too weak,

he was directly hypnotized into a dream by the sealed item.

…

…

"Tang Qingquan."

Seeing Gu Shen enter the dream, the red-robed adjudicator said seriously, "Today's audit process will be recorded, and Zhou Jiren will see it. If Gu Shen experiences a mental breakdown because of forcibly undergoing a second dream deciphering… we will all be responsible for it, and you will be the first to bear the brunt."

"…"

Tang Qingquan simply remained silent.

"Why are you making things difficult for a child?" the adjudicator pressed. "Since it wasn't Elder Zhao's intention, why make things difficult for him?"

The grand judge sitting in the central seat slowly looked at the red-robed adjudicator beside him.

"Do you want to know why?"

Finally, he broke his silence.

Grand Judge Tang Qingquan took out a file bag from his briefcase.

"Everyone, just yesterday… I received a report."

Now it was the red-robed adjudicator's turn to be stunned. "A report? Someone reported Gu Shen?"

"It was submitted by Han Dang of the Tribunal," Tang Qingquan said blandly.

Everyone was familiar with the name Han Dang. He was a well-known and promising junior, a leader among the younger generation of the Tribunal.

"He investigated Gu Shen's case in Da Teng City… the truth about that fire…" He pushed the file bag forward. "I think everyone should take a look at this report."

The red-robed adjudicator's expression suddenly changed the moment he took the file.

"Based on the on-site investigation and profiling of the fire… there is sufficient reason to suspect… that Gu Shen does not possess extraordinary abilities, but instead illegally used an extraordinary sealed item…"

He read the contents of the report, unable to help but laugh and whisper a rebuke, "Nonsense? Since when can profiling be used as evidence!"

The grand judge also smiled silently.

"Profiling cannot be used as evidence. If this report wasn't submitted by Han Dang… I wouldn't even bother to look at it."

He said coldly, "The key point is the 'investigated truth' within this report."

"Everyone came to Da Teng City to examine Gu Shen's mental potential… and risk of losing control."

Tang Qingquan looked around, his voice gradually rising. "We are here to investigate whether he possesses 'S-level' abilities. But if this report is true… and Gu Shen is just an ordinary person, the problem becomes very serious!"

If the report was true… then fabricating the scene of the fire, obtaining a special pardon by deception, and deceiving the council, a series of accusations would follow.

These already constituted crimes.

"Han Dang is currently on his way to collect evidence." The grand judge focused his gaze inward. "I haven't reported this matter to Councilor Zhao yet. If Han Dang completes the evidence collection and proves that everything in the report is true… everyone should know what will happen, right?"

The red-robed adjudicator squeezed the report, cold sweat seeping from his forehead.

He suddenly understood Tang Qingquan's true intention in advocating for a longer audit process… If the five-person team gave Gu Shen an "S" rating, and then Han Dang's report was successfully verified, it wouldn't just be Gu Shen who would be in trouble.

Without a doubt,

the correctness of the audit would be questioned, and the five-person team would be subjected to the most severe investigation!

"We had better pray that all of this is a misunderstanding, an attempted counterattack by Zhu Wang against Zhou Jiren's special pardon… If this report can be withdrawn, then everything will return to normal."

At this moment, the grand judge finally clarified his position, saying, "I have high hopes for this child. There is no doubt that he has 'S-level' potential. Provided that… he truly possesses extraordinary abilities."